Teaching photography in my class with a little help from Steemit

This week I taught one of the most fun lessons that I have taught in the last little while. I did something I never thought I would be able to do in my classroom. I was able to bring a little of my Steemit world to my students. Last year I started teaching basic photography to my students. It went so well that I decided to teach the photography unit again this spring.

Pixabay

In my short time here on Steemit, I have had the opportunity to enjoy so many different types of content. One of the genres that I have enjoyed most is photography. There is a very large photography community here on Steemit and I have become a follower of several different bloggers who regularly post high-quality pictures. I have never personally been an avid photographer but I have always enjoyed looking at good pictures. There is something about seeing the perspectives that can be created through someone's lens. I really like the way that I can be forced or encouraged to see something from a different aspect. Photographs can be as much about creating images as they are about capturing images.

Pixabay

My goal when teaching photography to my students is to have them learn about some of the different elements of photography. I do this by introducing them to and discussing various elements such as lighting and composition and texture. We follow this up with an examination of some different examples of pictures where that element play a key role and then the students attempt to take pictures of their own focusing on that element.

Source

This year the examples I used came straight from the Steem blockchain. I have been so impressed with some of the photography that I have seen here in Steemit that I had to find a way to show it to my students to demonstrate what great photography looked like. One of the first photographers I started following here in Steemit is @velimir. Velimir is a blogger from Croatia who specializes in photography and stories of his motorcycle travels. I have always enjoyed the uniqueness and creativity of the pictures he posts. I would highly encourage you to check out his page if you have not done so yet.

My Image

A few weeks ago I contacted @velimir and asked his permission to show his work to my students for our photography unit. I was so excited when he not only said yes but was truly glad that they would be getting used in this educational setting. I was so excited to share these pictures with my class. There were so many that I wanted to show and discuss with them. Finally, I settled on a few that really captured the ideas for the next lesson.

My image

On Wednesday, my class learned about the importance of lighting and how lighting can help capture so many different illusions in pictures. Some of his photography does an amazing job of using light to create images that leave the observer to think about what is being shown. Each person might have a different perspective of what they are seeing. I chose 4 images to show to the class and the results were amazing. The discussion from the students was both engaging and thoughtful. They shared their opinions about how the pieces were created and what feelings might be shared. They were very engaged in the conversation. I couldn’t be more pleased. The students were also very excited to know that they were looking at photographs taken by a photographer from another part of the world who had given them special permission to use his work as a learning tool.

My image

The students were super excited to create their own images with a focus on light, after the lesson. They came up with some very creative ideas that even I couldn’t have expected. It was clear to see that they were inspired by @velimir’s work. Here are some of the ideas that they came up with:

An interesting perspective of a tree



Sun blocking leaf



Let your imagination wander



An ants view of the world?



Fenced in

Above are student Images

A huge thank you to @velimir for allowing us to use his work to both teach and inspire us to create pictures. A big thank you as well to @oldtimer who has given permission to use his pictures as well. We will be using his work this week to explore landscapes. My students are already excited knowing that we will be looking at photographs taken in another part of Canada. Please take a moment to go check out their blogs and enjoy some wonderful stories through their pictures.

Another @velimir image we enjoyed in class on our projector

There are so many great photographers on the Steemit platform and I’m hoping to use many more in the future. Don’t be surprised if I pop by your blog and ask permission. Steemit has truly helped to enhance the photography lessons in my classroom. I’m already looking for ways to use some of these great images in other curriculum areas such as history, geography and language.